


Give a Girl a Scone

by Emily (JustAround)



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: Rogue didn't run away to Canada, alternate beginning, this changes everything, what if
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-02
Updated: 2017-01-02
Packaged: 2018-09-14 03:33:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9158290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustAround/pseuds/Emily
Summary: Joyce is tasked to look after another young girl.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the the March Challenge at http://31daysoffandom.livejournal.com. The concept was partly inspired by 'Such a Nice Girl' by Lucinda over at tthfanfic

The gallery was quiet today.

The last week - 10 days, really - had been Joyce’s first experience with the film festival crowd and while she had enjoyed all the business it brought, the slowness of today was a welcome relief. She felt as if she needed a quiet day to catch her breath and adjust to this new life she found herself living.

Being whisked away to new dimensions would do that to a woman.

Setting a comfortable pace, Joyce walked around the gallery, noting the posters and postcards that needed to be refilled, contemplating what new pieces of art she needed to set up to replace the newly blank spaces on the walls. It was easy work, really, and gave her the chance to let her mind wander. To everyone else in this dimension, Joyce Summers was a more recent transplant to Park City, a woman who had lost her husband and her two daughters in an accident three years earlier. A former colleague had mentioned needing someone to run their gallery in the mountain town, and Joyce had jumped at the opportunity to give meaning to her life once again. 

In actuality, Joyce Summers had only been in this dimension for two months, after being offered a choice by a Balance Demon. She had died in Sunnydale; there was nothing she could do to change that. Her heart broke everytime she thought of Buffy and Dawn having to go on without her, hoping they were able to find a life of happiness. She could have moved on; instead, she was offered the opportunity to make a difference here, in a dimension free of chosen vampire slayers, in a dimension where the future balanced on the fate of young girl.

It had never been a choice. Not for Joyce. If she couldn’t be with her girls, she wanted to be there to help a lost one.

Of course, no one had thought to mention who the young girl was or how Joyce would find her. She was only told ‘she would know’. Needless to say, Joyce had a very low opinion of the Powers That Be.

A rush of cold air started her, breaking her out of her thoughts. Turning towards the closing door - the source of the cold air - Joyce stiffened as she noticed a young girl standing uncertainly by the entrance. While she was decently attired for the weather, her nose and ears were bright red, an indication she was less interested in the contents of the gallery and more interested in the warmth it could provide. Joyce was used to people using the gallery to warm up, but that wasn’t what caught her attention. Turns out, the Powers That Be were right.

She knew.

“Can I help you?” she asked with a smile, taking a step towards the young girl. 

Joyce’s question seem to startled her, and the girl’s hands involuntarily clenched together. She seemed to huddle into herself as she answered quietly, “Just looking.”

The accent put her place of origin somewhere down South, in a place of sunshine and heat. Not a place with temperatures that routinely fell into the negatives, and enough snow to cover everything. Speaking quietly and moving slowly, as to keep from startling her, Joyce asked kindly, “Do you want something to drink? Eat? I always keep the coffee warm and I just baked some scones this morning. Compliments of the house, of course.”

The enticement of food was what did it, Joyce was sure. The girl nodded slowly, unconsciously moving towards the direction Joyce had pointed. Still moving at a sedate pace, Joyce walked to her small table of goodies, quickly filling up a cup of coffee and putting together a small plate of scones. The girl stood just out of reach, carefully undoing her scarf and taking off her hat, though noticeably making no movement to take off the gloves.

Interesting.

“I’m Joyce,” she said, handing her the plate. “Have you been in town long?”

“I’m M…Rogue,” she girl replied, and Joyce knew the girl wasn’t telling the truth. At least she had a name to give her, instead of thinking of her as ‘the girl on whom the fate of the world rested’. “And no.”

The coffee and scones were quickly devoured; obviously Rogue had gone without food for a little while. Joyce wasn’t sure how, but she was going to find a way to help this girl. Even without the divine intervention, Joyce would have wanted to help her. If she couldn’t take care of her daughters, she could watch over this lost young woman.


End file.
